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Miscellaneous unorganized material/WKTV
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia(Difference between revisions)Jump to: navigation, search---- Revision as of 00:04, 8 July 2010 WKTV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Central New York State that is licensed to Utica. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 29 from a transmitter in the Eatonville section of Middleville. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 4 and in high definition on digital channel 863. Owned by Smith Media, it has studios on Smith Hill Road in Utica. Syndicated programming on WKTV includes: Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Dr. Phil, and The Dr. Oz Show. It operates the area's CW affiliate on a second digital subchannel and Time Warner channel 11 (hence the Central New York CW 11 branding). WKTV-DT2 gets all of its programming from The CW Plus. WKTV airs the entire NBC schedule except for a pre-emption of Last Call with Carson Daly in favor of Judge Joe Brown. After that, the station airs Seinfeld reruns followed by paid programming in the overnight hours. History WKTV began broadcasting on December 1, 1949 on VHF channel 13 affiliated with NBC and DuMont. 1 It was the 93rd television station in the country to sign on the air. This made Utica one of the smallest cities in the nation with its own television station. Soon after, it also picked up CBS and ABC giving it the interesting situation of being a local network affiliate for all major television networks for a period of time. The DuMont affiliation ended in the mid-1950s with that network's closure and, due to a dispute with CBS, that affiliation ended soon after. WHEN-TV (now WTVH) in Syracuse would become the default affiliate for the Utica area. On New Year's Day 1959, WKTV moved from channel 13 to VHF channel 2 in a dial realignment. This change involved a station located on channel 13 in Hamilton, Ontario switching channel positions to add a channel 13 allotment in Rochester. This in turn allowed a relocation of a VHF channel 13 in Albany. With the move, WKTV upgraded its signal and began to cover a fairly wide area stretching from as far south as the Catskills, as far east as the Berkshires and into Canada. In the mid-1950s, a young local radio announcer named Dick Clark joined the staff of announcers at WKTV. He was a talented good looking announcer and quickly gathered a following. Mr. Clark’s father was the manager of Utica radio station WRUN-FM and the son wanted to avoid the name recognition factor. To avoid confusion, Dick Clark became known on-air as "Dick Clay". Eventually, Dick Clark would anchor the evening newscasts on WKTV replacing Robert Earle who would later host the GE College Bowl. 2 WKTV enjoyed a monopoly in the Utica television market until 1970 when WUTR signed-on as an ABC affiliate. WKTV then became an exclusive NBC affiliate which has resulted in the station being one of the oldest affiliates of the network today. In 1980, Kallet Television would sell WKTV to Harron Communications owner of a chain of cable companies in the Northeast along with WMTW in Portland, Maine. During this time, it was carried on cable systems in areas as far away as Schenectady and for a time in Syracuse. In the mid-1980s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled on cross ownership of broadcast, cable, and print media in the same communities. Harron Communications owned both WKTV and Harron Cable Television in Utica. It was required that Harron divest itself of one or the other. In 1992, an agreement was reached between Harron and Smith Broadcasting. One year later, after Harron purchased the cable system in Utica (later sold to Adelphia and now part of Time Warner), Smith Broadcasting acquired WKTV. Today, the station is owned by Smith Media, LLC which is a successor to Smith Broadcasting as well as a subsidiary of Boston Ventures. In 1998, the creation of The WB 100+ led WKTV to partner with the group to launch a cable-only WB affiliate. This new station replaced WPIX from New York City on area cable systems. It used the "WBU" call sign in a fictional manner. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents, CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. On September 18, WKTV created a new second digital subchannel to simulcast WBU and offer non-cable subscribers access to CW programming. That station then began using the WKTV-DT2 calls in an official manner. Originally, this CW subchannel was known as "Central New York CW" but in recent times was re-branded "Central New York CW 11" to reflect its location on Time Warner Cable. On February 18, 2009, WKTV turned off its analog transmitter and began broadcasting only in digital. This left some viewers without a signal and others looking for an outdoor UHF antenna. To offer viewers in those area, WKTV simulcasts its newscasts on WADR-AM 1480 and WUTQ-AM 1550. The station has been broadcasting its digital signal on UHF channel 29 since May 2006 and in high definition starting with the 2008 Summer Olympics. Local programming America's Greatest Heart Run and Walk WKTV hosts a telethon for the American Heart Association every March during the same weekend as America's Greatest Heart Run and Walk. The telethon is aired live from Utica College and usually begins the Friday evening before the run/walk. It continues on Saturday during the event with live coverage from various points along the course. Ironically, the telethon usually out-raises the WIBX Heart Radiothon by more than tenfold even though the radiothon was the original event from the entire Heart Weekend. Boilermaker Road Race For many years, WKTV has provided live coverage of the Boilermaker Road Race, a 15 kilometer (9.3 mile) road race that begins near Utica Boilers and ends at the F.X. Matt Brewery. Coverage is anchored primarily from the finish line. The coverage is supplemented by live trucks positioned at key points along the course, portable transmitters on the race's media truck, motorcycles (driven by volunteers), and formerly a helicopter. The coverage is unique in that it begins by covering the race itself, following the leaders throughout the race, with interviews after they reach the finish line. Then, the focus shifts to the local angles of the race, with stories of life on the volunteers who make the race happen, local notables running the race (usually including current WKTV on-air staff), and former on-air staff who come back home to run. There is also coverage of post-race events. Christmas cards WKTV is popular in its coverage area for its Christmas cards where station personnel gather with their families. Each person (or group/family) gets about 7–10 seconds of face time and various shots are spliced together to create a 60-second spot. In order to include every employee, several versions are created and are rotated throughout the holiday season. The song "Christmas is Paintin' The Town" by The Oak Ridge Boys is played in the background every year. News/station presentation Newscast titles *''World News'' (1949-1964) *''WKTV News'' (1964-1970) *''NewsCenter 2'' (1970-1974) *''TV-2 News'' (1974-1992) *''WKTV 2 News'' (1988-1992) *''NewsChannel 2'' (1992-present) Station slogans *''TV-2, Proud as a Peacock!'' (1979-1981; localized version of NBC ad campaign) *''TV-2, Our Pride is Showing'' (1981-1982; localized version of NBC ad campaign) *''We're TV-2, Just Watch Us Now'' (1982-1983; localized version of NBC ad campaign) *''TV-2 There, Be There'' (1983-1984; localized version of NBC ad campaign) *''TV-2, Let's All Be There'' (1984-1986; localized version of NBC ad campaign) *''Come Home to TV-2'' (1986-1987; localized version of NBC ad campaign) *''Come on Home to TV-2'' (1987-1988; localized version of NBC ad campaign) *''Come Home to the Best, Only on TV-2'' (1988-1990; localized version of NBC ad campaign) *''Central New York's 24-Hour News Channel'' (1989-1992) *''WKTV is the Place to Be'' (1990-1991; localized version of NBC ad campaign) *''Central New York's #1 Rated Newscast'' (1992-1997) *''Where the News Comes First'' (1997-present) News team Its news open seen weekdays at noon.Anchors *Megan Koskovich - weekday mornings *Don Shipman - weekday mornings and noon *Steve McMurray - News Director seen weeknights at 5 and 5:30 *Kristen Copeland - weeknights at 5, 5:30, and 6 *Bill Worden - weeknights at 6, 10, and 11 *Gary Liberatore - weekend mornings and reporter *Emma Wright - weekend evenings and reporter StormTracker 2 Meteorologists *Adam Musyt - weeknights *Bill Kardas - weekday mornings and Noon *Jill Reale - weekends Sports (both seen on Sports Express) *Jason Powles - Director seen weeknights at 6, 10, and 11 *Mike Levin - weekend evenings and sports reporter Reporters *David Dellecese - Assistant News Director, Assignment Editor, and fill-in news anchor *Art Ginsburg - "Mr. Food" segment producer *Caroline Gable - weekday mornings *Pat Bailey - weeknights *Joleen Ferris Former staff *Donna Adamo (last worked at WTVH in Syracuse, NY) *Sara Allen Davenport (now at KPRC-TV in Houston, formerly at WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee) *Sandy Arnn *Jeff Baskin *Amanda Bertram *Lyle Bosley (deceased) *Courtney Brennan *Joe Brown *Andrea Bullard (now at WSTM-TV in Syracuse, NY) *Ryan Burr (2006–present (anchor, ESPN Sports Center, College Basketball Gameday) *Fran Cafarell (now an attorney in Rochester, NY)[citation needed] *Kyla Campbell (at WJAC-TV in Johnstown, PA until 2008, Now at WBRE-TV in Wilkes-Barre, PA) *Lila Carney (now at WSTM-TV in Syracuse, NY) *Bill Carroll (former news anchor/voiceover/program director and briefly did the morning news and advertisement voiceover work for WXUR radio in Ilion, NY) *Dick Clark (started his TV career at WKTV) *Elizabeth Chernak *Nate Crossett *Matt DiNardo (now at WRIC in Richmond, Virginia) *Robert Earle (later host of GE College Bowl; Clark replaced him as news anchor)2 *Tiffany Eddy *Dick (Richard) Fettes (Accounting) *Jerry Fiore (1977-1989, WFLA-TV in Tampa, FL, then WROC-TV in Rochester, NY) *Desiree Fraser *Jack Fredericks (deceased) *Amanda Gabeler *Mavis Glass *Angela Grande *Molly Graves *Lynda Hammond *Donna Hanover *Karen Huxtable (now in public relations for Bassett Healthcare Network based in Cooperstown, NY) *Crystal Jackson *Andy Jenks (now at WWBT in Richmond Virginia) *Aaron Keller *Karey Kirkpatrick *Frank Kipers (Accounting- deceased) *Susan Koeppen (now consumer correspondent CBS News' The Early Show) *Heather Kovar (now anchor at News 12 Connecticut) *Matt Lanza (working in energy industry) *Dick Lawler (retired) *Teresa Lee (now at WUTR in Utica, NY) *Melissa Long (left for WROC-TV in Rochester, NY, now at CNN) *Kristin Lowman (now at WXXA in Albany, NY) *Rich Lupia (now an account executive at WFXV in Utica, NY) *Rich Luterman (now at WJBK in Detroit) *Kelly Lynch *Pete Maneen (Engineer/Photojounalist- deceased) *Steve Merren (Vice President & General Manager (1992-2004) now at WFXV/WPNY/WUTR in Utica, NY) *Ryan Nobles (now at WWBT in Richmond Virginia) *Wendy Peterson *Kevin Nunn *Brianne Puleo *Lisa Quintana *Ali Reina *Brian Sandler (Now at YNN, in Syracuse, NY]) *Lisa Shell *Stacey Simms (morning co-host WBT-AM Radio in Charlotte, NC, author of "I Can't Cook, But I Know Someone Who Can") *Meg Stapleton (formerly at KTUU-TV in Anchorage, former press aide to Alaska Gov. Palin, McCain/Palin campaign spokesperson) *Liz Tedone *Susan Tran (now at WSOC in Charlotte) *Vic Vetters (general manager of WKTV, as well as general manager of WFFF/WVNY Burlington, VT) *Cassie Vogel (1994-1997) (now owns The Media Coach-company providing media training for businesses, formerly Director of Corporate Communication for Ubisoft, Director of Public Relations for Red Storm Entertainment, and at WTVD in Durham, NC) *Rich von Ohlen *Justine Waldman (now at WFTX in Fort Myers, Florida as a Reporter/Anchor/Weather) *Jessica Weinstein (now at WGRZ in Buffalo, formerly at WHEC-TV in Rochester, NY) *Ed Whitaker (played Bozo and Uncle Charlie in live Utica Club commercials, deceased.) *Evan White (now at WHAM-TV in Rochester, NY) *Dennis Williams (now at WGR in Buffalo, New York) References #'^' http://www.dumonthistory.tv/12.html #^ a'' ''b "Rock, Roll and Remember", by Dick Clark and Richard Robinson (New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1976) External links *WKTV "NewsChannel 2" *WKTV mobile *WKTV-DT2 "Central New York CW 11" *Query the FCC's TV station database for WKTV